Every year PLY Away is more fun! Here's a quickie recap from my corner of Ply Away.
There are always so many happy people, and this year brought me some surprises.
My Ply Away kicked off with a dinner with friends Greg Cotton, Janine Bajus nad Marilyn Van Keppel. We never stopped talking and opinionating.
Thanks to John Mularkey I made a new friend, Michael. He is a newish spinner, a talented fiber artist and photographer.
My biggest surprise was finding Donna. She used to be Donna Muller. She is a weaving hero of mine, and I was obsessed with her book Handwoven Laces. I've had the tickle to to weave and had been looking for her. Finding her at Ply Away was one of those signs that I can't ignore.
The Knitgirlls were both at Ply Away taking classes. I was lucky enough to have cake and celebrate Laura's birthday. There were no canoes involved.
I got to meet Alan and Sasha of DM Fibers in person. They are the wonderful people who bought the fiber part of the business from Louet. We also had a big winner of a Louet wheel in one of my classes.
My classes were a crazy blur of fiber, laughing and a lot of spinning.
My favorite thing to hear in my classes, besides laughing, is that exclamation when something clicks or something excites a spinner.
I had new spinners trying all kinds of new-to-them techniques. I had experienced spinners planning and plotting ways to make yarns for projects.
Probably my favorite thing was the ever widening smile on the face of the woman who was back to spinning after a decade.
I thought I'd throw in some photographic evidence of my spinning and cheese class. It is not a myth! See the woman in the background? That's Christie, she is one of the reasons Ply Away runs so smoothly!
I spent more time this year with other teachers. So many have become friends and we tend to only see each other at events. Usually in my breaks between teaching I head to my room to recharge. This year, I had extra tea and hung out with my teaching friends.
Jacey and Levi host a teacher dinner that is always loud and delicious.
This year Stephenie Gaustad and many others spoke and celebrated the life of Alden Amos. It was a touching tribute to a man who loomed large in the fiber world for so many years.
Jacey and I spirited away Maggie Casey, Judith MacKenzie, Deb Robson and Stephenie Gaustad to a photography studio to capture some pieces of an as yet unnamed project.
My fondest memory this year were the meals I shared with Judith and Maggie, talking books and listening to their thoughts on weaving.
My one regret this year is that I somehow had almost no time in the marketplace. Next year I'll do better.
Speaking of next year, the dates are set! Ply Away 4 will be April 9-13, 2019. All of the details, including teacher proposals and vendor applications are on the the Ply Away website.